Nursing nipple



Sept. 1, 1931. J. A. SMITH NURSING NIPPLE Filld larch 17, 1928 FIG-3'2 gwventoz JUSEFH E 5/7/77! Patented Sept. '1, 1931 "omen sures om c JOSEPH A. SMiITH, 0F 'ATTILEBORQ, MASSACHUSETTS i ,NURSING N IPPL E'. Y

'i a l iiciibahi an f hu', mes. 26531 1 I invention relates to an} improved nnrs ing nipple characterized in that the nipple is non-collapsible and does not descend into the neck of thenursing bottle; 1 6 It isv a familia'r fact that the ordinary nursing nipples Iof' 'coriimerce possess the undej-I I I sirabl'e feature of collaps ng innse due-t0 the partialvacuunrwh ch by the sucking of the infant is created, all to the annoyance and IOdisturbanCe of the infantwho is generally made fretfu'l therebyQ Another evil to which the nipples now in useare "subjectarisesafter the nipple'becomes extreme-1yfieiiible'from use so that it is thrust" downthe'neck of the nursing bottle with' facility by" the infant.

Both theseevils do 'm'uch t-odeprive the in portion of thefpleasure which geng" I I I i vertical ribs and thecircumferential segments' integrally formed with'thesocket.

I fant of a erallyaccompanies feeding.

' Manvat'temptshave been Jmade to solve the problem 'presented hy the'jevils specified and in fact many forms ofnipple's have been proposed'and patented butnone has as yet met with universal acceptance as accomplishin g the'sought for resultJ" I a nursing nipple, simple in design and eflfec tive in operation which pern'iitsthe uninter- I I I "members overhang the mouth of the bottle.

the rim of said socket to a point substantially adjacent the shoulder portion of the socket,

with a projection which is adapted to overhang the mouth of the bottle neck, said rib member subserving the double purpose of pre- 40Ventingthe formation of a partial vacuum nipple top from being pushed into the neck of the bottle. Y

A still further object of my invention is to provide a non-collapsible nursing nipple of such a design as to be fool-proof, the interior wall of the expansible socket being provided with vertical ribs extendingto a pointad-- jacentthe shoulder portion of the nipple,

said interior well being further providedwith protruding'segments circumferentially stop members to prevent the nipple fro] Figure li's across sectional view taken Itis'an'obj'ect 'ofn'i-yinvention to provide said rib being provided at its innermost point within the nipple head and preventing" the' I I i as preventingthe nipple *top from being throughout the several views.

"disposed withinj thesoekt which'fa'readapted, of themselves "as well as in conj'unction'iwith the protruding ends of the .ribs, to e gage themouth'of thebottle and thereby a-tbas eing pulled too far down on the bottle ne'c Other objects and advantages will ap ear from the following detailed description.

This invention is an improvement on the nursing nipple described and claimed in Patout Number 1,653,787 "of which I am the'patentee. j "I I v I 1 I attain these objectsbv-the nipple illustrated in 'the' accompanying drawings wherethrough Iny'improved nipple showing the Figure 2' is a view showing the nipple ap" 7o plied'to a nursing bottle, the nipple and bottle neck being shown in cross section for the sake of'greaterclarity.

I Figure 3fis a vieW taken along line 'AA of Figure 1 "in the direction of the "arrows showing the manner in'which the protruding portion of-the ribmembers and-the segment which act to prevent the nipple from being pulledtoo far down on the bottle neck aswell pushed 'into the bottle. I

' Similar numerals-refer tofsimilar parts Referring to-the drawings,-'1 designates the head on the nursing nipple, 2 the expansible socket which is generally of a lesser diameter than the neck of the bottle to ensure a close fit, 3 the shoulder portionof the socket, 4 the closed end or nipple proper, 5 the hole in the extremity of said closed end for the egress of the fluid. So far as the exterior of the nipple itself is concerned, the structure is unchanged. I have found that in the manufacture of the ordinary nipple that it is easily possible, without entailing any further material expense, to mould into the interior of the expansible socket an integral vertical rib member 6 which extends from the base portion'of the head to the shoulder portion of the socket, the rib member 6 being sufficiently set off from the remainder of the socket wall as to cause the formation of small air ducts or passages when the socket 'is placed on the mouth of the bottle. However, in View of the fact that the utility of the air ducts would be nullified if only a straight rib were used, since by pulling the nipple downto'o far on the bottle neck the inner extremity of the rib would descend below the mouth of the bottle. I have found that by providing a lug or projection 7 at the inner extremity of the rib 6 that in so doing the overhanging projection serves to act as a stop member. A fur-,

ther function of the overhanging projection is that it acts as an obstruction to prevent the nipple top from being pushed into the bottle. Although I have shown a nipple emv ploying two rib members with overhanging portions it is to be understood that a nipple may be provided with only one rib member of the character described. I do not wish to' be limited to any particular number of rib members asthe number may be varied as the need arises. In Figure 4 there is shown a nipple provided with twoopposed rib members together with outwardly projecting lugs or ends which overhangthe bottle mouth.

Referring to Figure 3 it will be seen that the vertical integral ribs 6 acts as spacers or bufiers between the side of the bottle neck and the remainderof the socket wall whereby air ducts, shown at 8, are formed. These air ducts are continuous from the bead of the socket to the interior of the nipple by reason.

of the extent of the rib which renders, possible the continuity of the air passage at all times during the feeding of the infant- The,

size and extent of the air ducts may be varied according to the thickness and width of the rib members. The amount of air allowed to enter through these small ducts or passages, is sufiicient to counteract any tendency: with-. in the nipple proper to form a partial vacu um; The distance or extent towhich the lugs 7 project within the interionof the socket 2 may be varied, however, a size sufficient to prevent the nipple from being pulledtoo far down as well as reventing theentry of the nipple within tie mouth of the bottle should be employed. 7

An auxiliary feature which may be employed to further reinforce the nipple as well as to act as additional stop members are the segments or lugs 9 which are disposed along the interior wall of the socket 2 in substantial alignment with the lugs 7 by not contacting the same. These segments are integrally formed with said socket wall and may be made of any desired configuration. The seg-.

ments may or may not be used, however, if

used alone' they serve the purpose of acting as stop members to prevent the nipple from being pulled down too far as well as prewenting the nipple top from being pushed .ments may be made integral with the nipple they may be made of the same material of which the nipple is made and in fact may be made in the same peratiomthe only difference being a mould designed to produce the desired configuration within'the interior of the expansible socket. V

The mode of use of my improved nipple is apparent from an inspection of the drawings and indeed is no different from-thenipples now in use on the market as .it is intended to 'be applied to the bottle in the, same way.

All that has been said abovein the description of my preferred embodiment is offered by Way of illustration and not limitation.- I do not wish to be limited to'the exact structure of. the preferred embodiment shown. and described, or to any particular material, used 'in the construction of parts, or tothedesign of parts, but desire protection as against anyvariations in structure or substitution of equivalents which utilize the principle of my invention and fallwithin the purview of my invention and are within the spirit and scope of the following claims The invention having been set forth,what

is claimed as newand-useful is:..: I

1. 'An elastic nursing nipple foi us eon a bottle neck comprising in combination a socket member, a top portion, said socket member having a substantially vertical rib member disposed on its interior, said rib member-extending from the basepf said socket member a sufficient distanceflwithin said socket member to extend beyond the month of the bottle,-means within said socket member and substantially aligned with the inner extremity .of said rib memberfor en- ,gaging the mouth of the. bottle whereby the inner extremity of said I'll) member isnot,

2. In combinationwith an clasticnursing'Z ine nipple having a top portion, a socket member, duct forming means disposed within said socket, said'duct-forming means extending from the base of said expansible socket a substantial distance along the interior wall of said socket member, and a stop means attached tosaid interior wall in substantial alignment with the innerextremity of said duct-forming means, said stop means being adapted to abut against the mouth of a bottle during use of said nipple.

8. Ari elastic nursing nipple for use on a bottle neck comprising a socket member, a top portion, rubber lugs integral with said socket member and disposed .a substantial distance within the interior of said socket member, said rubber lugs projecting inwardly and being adapted to overhang the mouth of a bottle, to prevent the nipple from being pulled too far down on the bottle neck.

4. An elastic nursing nipple for use on a bottle neck comprising in combination a socket member,'a top portion, said socket member having a substantially vertical rib member disposed on its interior, said rib member being integral with said socket member and extending from the base of said socket member a sufiicient distance within said socket member to extend beyond the mouth of the bottle, means within and integral with said socket member, said means being'substantially aligned with the inner extremity of said rib member for engaging the mouth of the bottle whereby the inner extremity of said rib member is not ulled below the mouth ofthe bottle, said ri member being adapted to form air ducts between the bottle neck and the socket member.

tremity of said ductforming means, said stop members being adapted to abut against the mouth of a bottle during use of said nipple, said elastic duct forming means and elastic stop members being of the same ma- 7,

terial as that constituting the nursing nipple.

Signed at Fall River in the county of Bristol, State of Massachusetts this tenth day of March, 1928.

JOSEPH A. SMITH. 

